1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to methods and apparatuses for evaluating service to a user over the Internet.
More specifically, the invention relates to methods and apparatuses for determining at a user site the amount of time that certain operations take over the Internet, providing information regarding the timing to a relay server and, in certain embodiments, combining the timing information with information that identifies the user's geographical location.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the explosive growth of the Internet, increased traffic has caused the performance experienced by users making connections over the Internet to vary widely. Many factors can influence the performance of a connection including the user's modem and other equipment, the type of server, the load on the server, and the Internet service provider used. The first step in evaluating connection performance is to obtain reliable information regarding performance characteristics such as the time required to download web pages or other information across a connection. It is also important to measure network performance relating to connectionless protocols such as UDP.
Currently available methods of measuring download speeds at different sites and collecting that information in a database that facilitates analyzing the information include attempting to measure performance on the server side (that is, on the server that is providing the web pages or other information requested by users) or providing a network of special machines that are programmed to connect to different web sites as clients and evaluate the performance of the connection. The special machines that make up the network can then store or report their connection results.
The main drawback of analyzing connection performance on the server side is that the performance experienced by users is not fully determinable from the measurements made at the server. The server can, of course, determine when packets are sent out and received, and such information measures the responsiveness of the server i.e., how quickly the server sends a response once a request is received. The responsiveness of the server, however, does not fully determine the downloading time that is experienced by the user.
Similarly, a special testing machine can provide accurate information about the downloading time experienced by that machine, but it is not possible to ascertain downloading times experienced by actual users whose hardware or software configuration may differ from the configuration of the testing machine or who request information at a different time. Furthermore, special testing machines do not provide information about actual historical user connections that can be analyzed after a problem has been reported.
What is needed is an apparatus and method for testing network performance that can unobtrusively acquire, collect and organize data relating to network performance from actual users. It would be useful if such a system could measure actual download times experienced by users and use that data to evaluate network performance. It would be useful if such a system were capable of receiving instructions to measure performance and transmit results without violating network security constraints. The system should be capable, for example, of transmitting data from behind a firewall.